Mallick: Hudak can’t run away from the abortion issue

Tory leader should have the courage to say what he believes.

Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak says he “may have” signed a petition to end abortion funding in Ontario. I’m not clear whether he doesn’t remember or just wishes he hadn’t signed the damn thing.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is always hissing at his rural MPs that the government is not touching the abortion issue right now so enough already. I think this means that he will indeed reopen the issue after the next election, which may be his final term.

But that’s the problem when politicians won’t tell you what they think and fudge on what they’re going to do. You immediately think the worst. And as a fighter for women’s rights in an era that has pushed them to the side, I can tell you that the worst is generally what’s on the road map.

Hudak thinks it’s sufficient to promise he won’t reopen the debate on abortion rights, although such a debate is not occurring in Ontario and the fact that he thinks it is says a lot about his views.

Hudak can’t run away from this issue and he shouldn’t try. He has to be honest and have the courage to say what he believes. Premier Dalton McGuinty, on the other hand, says he supports a woman’s right to choose. Good for him.

A politician’s promise means nothing, especially since Hudak has to answer to a hard-right caucus that may well demand that since abortion can’t be banned, women seeking abortions must be tormented.

You see, there are many things a province can do to put abortion out of reach for many women. You have to violate the Canada Health Act to do it, but New Brunswick and P.E.I. are willing to do that. Why? Because they can.

The Canada Health Act says that women can’t be singled out to be abandoned. The Supreme Court of Canada allows abortions as they would any other medical procedure. But the province can still encourage the restriction of teaching abortion techniques to young doctors.

In fact, the lack of training in this field is rapidly becoming a problem. Hospitals can quietly cut back on the number of abortions they do. Clinics can have their provincial money cut off.

Abortion is a life-and-death issue for women, meaning that women will do anything to get that abortion. If you have money, you can go out of province. Actually, if you have enough money, you can do anything you please.

But we’re talking about teenagers here, desperate women, rape victims who don’t want to go to the cops, poor women who don’t have the busfare to get to a clinic in the first place, victims of incest who can’t turn to their own families for help, women who would rather die than give birth.

Such women exist, although they don’t get space to write about their personal hell on this page.

The story about Hudak signing the petition emerged on a blog by a smart woman who keeps an eye on things. She noticed that Hudak’s stance, or lack of one, was reported on the ARPA website.

I’m sorry I missed it but I thought it was an Association of Retired People. But it was the Association for Reformed Political Action, which the Star reported is a group that “aims to make members of reformed churches more a part of public debate.” Fine. What troubled me is that the group’s executive director, Mark Penninga, didn’t think the mention on his website, while accurate, was newsworthy.

The blogger “had a chip on his/her shoulder,” Penninga said.

And yes, she did. But what he and Hudak and Harper should understand is that abortion is not a “chip” on a woman’s shoulder, it is her body and her life, her internal sanctity and her choice.

I am warning those who want Canadian women to lose their right to abortion that this will not be a skirmish. It lives in the hearts of girls and women. We will fight you on this.